PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Neighbors in Ponte Vedra Beach have started a petition after a Gate gas station was proposed along A1A.
Action News Jax Christy Turner will have more on why neighbors are pushing back on FOX30, CBS47 at 5.
- Neighbors in Ponte Vedra Beach are pushing back against a proposed Gate gas station along A1A.
- An online petition has gathered more than 6,000 signatures.
- A spokesperson for the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners said according to Property Appraiser Records, the property has a use description of marshes, wetlands, waste lands. However, the property is zoned commercially.
- A spokesperson for Gate sent Action News Jax this statement: “GATE Petroleum Company has filed for minor variances to allow specific signage and building designs for a new gas station and car wash on commercial property we own in Ponte Vedra. The site is already zoned to allow this type of facility and the specific use, we are simply seeking approval of some of the aesthetic elements. No wetlands will be impacted by this development. While our property is approximately 31 acres, we are only using the roughly 5 acres that are commercial frontage along A1A for these facilities. Today the majority of those 5 acres are used for a storm water pond, not wetlands. Once the new store is completed, we will close the aged GATE facility currently located a few miles from the new location.”
Turner spoke with a few of the concerned neighbors in Ponte Vedra Beach.
“They’re coming in and they’re trying to build a huge Gate gas station. We already have two gas stations there that are perfectly good. They take up enough land as it is,” neighbor Elizabeth Davis said.
“We’re looking to purchase from our landlord. We’d love to stay in this neighborhood. We have kids that are here. We would like to stay within the school system. It would possibly make me consider moving to a different home because I knew Gate was coming up behind me,” She added.
Another neighbor, Lisa Inscoe said, “It’s the privacy and the noise factor. You can already hear the traffic and the ambulances and everything else. I’m sure all of those people that are on this back line don’t want that.”
“There are enough gas stations. We have enough stuff. We can’t regroup on nature,” Inscoe said.